Households in Lichfield and Burntwood will get their first chance to sign up for brown bin collections in the coming months.
Lichfield District Council is introducing the controversial charges – dubbed ‘the bin tax’ by local Labour councillors – from January.
Residents will have to pay £36 for each garden waste bin to be collected fortnightly from the start of 2018.
Information on how to sign up for the service will be sent out to households, alongside details about black and blue bin collections over the festive period and the year ahead.
Councillor Iain Eadie, Cabinet member for operational services, leisure and waste at Lichfield District Council, said: “With the reducing contribution from central government to help us run our services, we hope residents will understand the financial pressures we face, and that by charging for the service – rather than stopping it – we can keep offering a garden waste service.
“We recognise residents won’t welcome the extra charge, but by introducing a producer-pays policy, only the households that use the service will pay for it.”
Labour say Conservative-controlled Lichfield District Council is now feeling the pain of Tory policies in Westminster.
Cllr Sue Woodward, leader of the opposition Labour group, added: “It’s a consequence, of course, of the Government’s austerity agenda which is starving councils of resources – even those of the same political colour.
“Tory councillors so far have been silent about this, even though the financial forecasts have predicted that the harshest impacts on services will come over this next couple of years, but chickens are now coming home to roost.
“They were warned. The Labour opposition group argued against the bin tax on all three occasions it was scrutinised but Tory councillors just went along with it. ”
People can sign up online for the brown bin collections from December 15.
